TheGreatBubbaJ - True. You might be a genius mastermind but it's not like you can see future. You can always be caught by surprise, and when that happens, what really matters is what sort of procedures you have in place for your people to react to the threat. Here, well, HPSC isn't doing all that well because they simply didn't expect someone like Hawks to go renegade on them.
AdrianVnz - The force send to attack is a real threat, and the fight is going to be rather fierce. However, the Vigilante Alliance and Levellers came prepared, and the attackers are on the rush. This isn't a good combination, ngl. Also I agree that the political fallout of this even is going to be... spectacular. And yeah, it will probably boost Endeavor a bit, especially after what happens during this chapter and the next one.
Onishin Tsukitenshi - Twice's backstory is... well, it always made me see him as the most sympathetic character within the League of Villains, ngl. The rest are various shades of murderhobos with or without mental illness to explain it, while he... honestly all he wanted was to be accepted and make friends.
Slicksick - Precisely! Let's just say that the next chapters mentions why exactly did HPSC most likely f_ked up with Hawks (like, putting him way too high for an assassin) and it's... very human reason, all things considered.
InfinityMask - Let's just say that it was planned up :P
Darkpaladin89 - Aiko's quirk is... interesting. And can help Touya quite a bit. You'll know in time :D And yes, Mineta & Harem is the rarest pairing ever I think XD
Gamer71796 - So many correct questions that I don't want to spoil anything by answering XD
(***)
"That fucking bastard." Prime Minister says, staring almost absentmindedly into the screen. Hawks is on it. He switched to the other channel for a moment to see the battle start, then returned here.
"U-uhm, Hawks?" One of his assistants asks, clearly confused. The Prime Minister actually tears his eyes off the screen to stare daggers at the man. Who promptly shrinks under the stare.
"No, the HPSC president." He decided to elaborate, before his eyes moved back to the screen in front of him. "What sort of fucked-up reasoning made that bitch think that it's a good ide… wait." He takes a deep breath in. "It's older than she is, isn't it? Especially if what he just said about Lady Nagant is correct."
People who work with him know that his language when in private is… very unpolitical. Then again, at least now the people gathered in front of the TV in the room mostly agree with him. It's really hard NOT to swear.
"That's just impossible." One of the parliamentarians that happened to be meeting the Prime Minister when the shit hit the fan decides to speak. "You can't hide something like that for that long, it's just…"
"Think about it." The Prime Minister sniggers bitterly. "Whose job was it to 'find' something like that?" The parliamentarian swallows loudly. "We let the wolves run the sheep farm for who knows how long. Now we're going to have to live with the consequences."
They can just kiss their chances of winning the next elections goodbye, can't they? Is their party even going to survive the incoming shitstorm? No, wait. It's still almost a year. If they aren't all forced to resign by the riots, if they act decisively enough… if they make the people realize that the HSPC president was doing things behind their backs, then maybe, just maybe…
"Uhm, sir?" One of the assistants interrupts the silence. "Endeavor is calling us. He says that it's urgent. And related to the… situation."
What now?
(***)
"Going back to the subject…" Hawks says calmly. They are far enough from the active battlefield to not hear any explosions. "... there were more means of keeping people like me loyal. I don't technically own anything, The contracts I signed let HPSC pretty much take over the accounts of both myself and my agency. A snap of a finger, and I'd be broke."
Hawks suddenly sighs painfully before correcting his posture again. He keeps slumping down.
"As to what happens to the money from my merchandise sale…" He shrugs. "I guess you're going to have to ask HPSC for that. I never saw a single yen. They probably help finance the Paragon Program, but that's just my guess. "
"Isn't that…" The host blinks at the man in front of him. "... practically slavery?" Hawks shrugs. It certainly sounds like one, now that he thinks about it. Being forced to work in exchange for pretty much basic accommodations, the money you earn going to your 'owner' and so on…
"Pretty much, yeah." Hawks agrees with the man. "On one occasion when I didn't seem… enthusiastic enough about the new kill order, the bank accounts of my agency started having 'problems' coughing out money. So I'm sure that the threat was real."
"W-what was that 'kill order' about?" The host decides not to dig into the fact that some bank was involved as well. Willing accomplices or… they might have a limited time, and he decided to focus on what felt more important. The bank thing was going to be left for the police to invest…
"I was told to kill Ingenium." Hawks says unceremoniously. For the nth time during this brief 'interview', Daikaku Miyagi finds himself staring at Hawks with an open mouth. "In a way that would allow the HPSC to frame the Hero Killer."
"W-why?" It's probably the most important question.
"According to what they told me, because Stain and Ingenium were collaborating in framing heroes for false crimes." Hawks replies. He reads the host's opinion from his face. "Yes, that was incredibly stupid. I think that they just decide that at this point I was going to swallow any justification, regardless of how idiotic it was. But… Tensei Iida's father and the previous Ingenium was one of the heroes that I saw on the TV back then. I had my doubts, so…"
".. you missed on purpose?" Host cuts in. When Hawks nods, he decided to speak more. "And paralyzed him instead? Wasn't that almost just as bad?" It would certainly be for him, and he could still be a TV host with such injuries. For an active hero, that's pretty much the end of a career.
"In my defense, I didn't plan for it either." Hawks sighs. "I wanted to hit him in a way that would cause no lasting damage, but Ingenium must have heard my feather cutting through the air at the last second and tried to dodge. I guess that I underestimated his skills."
Yes. That suddenly makes much more sense.
"As for the true reason why the HPSC told me to frame Stain…" Hawks takes a deep breath. "... well, the reason greatly contributed to my decision to come forward with everything. Although I only found out about it three days ago."
(***)
It would be very, very goddamn awesome if being a corrupted hero suddenly made you incompetent, Crawler decides. Unfortunately, the world doesn't seem to work like that.
He realizes that well enough when Yoroi Muusha unequips his sword in the middle of an overhead swing (that Crawler was preparing to block with his quirk), only to change the trajectory and then reequip the sword again.
Crawler was hit with the hilt of the sword and sent backwards by a few meters. Damn, it hurt. Yoroi Muusha tried to push forward but Stain appeared out of nowhere. He dodged another overhead swing of the old hero and delivered a blow of his own.
Shame that Muusha was wearing armor. It's kind of a problem when you're all about drawing blood from your enemies.
Somewhere to the side several copies of Split are fighting some flame breathing Paragon that actually feels quite tough. The riff raff is battling it out everywhere around them, while the big ones are fighting it out in the middle.
Crawler thinks that the hilt blow broke a rib. At least one. And he already has that nasty gash on the forehead from the narrowly avoided Scream's sonic blade. Mischief seems to be dancing around with some blonde Paragon, armed in a long metal staff that she is wielding with rather intimidating skills (yet it finds no purchase).
It's a mess.
Thankfully, they came prepared for the mess.
Scream inhales deeply, ready to fire another blast. They are one rather dirty hero - their quirk caused excessive collateral damage and the HPSC took advantage of that to put them on their payroll.
It's similar to Present Mic's quirk. Except it's much sharper.
"NOW, MY BOY!" Mr. Compress yells from the back. Crawler puts up a barrier in front of him, he has no time to question what the hell is Compress talking about and the attack is about…
A figure in clothes resembling the ones donned by Mr. Compress (except the colors are much more subdued) appears out of nowhere right next to Scream. The hero has maybe half a second to start turning towards it while trying to jump away, before the figure grabs him.
The gloves it's wearing are support items. Tasers. Powerful ones. Scream yells while convulsing, before collapsing to the floor.
The figure vanishes again.
"That's my boy!" Mr. Compress shouts happily while marbling a Paragon that got too close to him. "Non, that was one hell of a debut!"
"COULD YOU FOCUS ON THE FIGHT A BIT MORE?!" Knuckleduster yells back at him. In front of him are six Paragons. He also seems to have a broken nose, and doesn't seem to be enjoying that for a bit.
"DON'T YOU YELL AT ME!" Mr. Compress yells back. Knuckleduster clearly struck a nerve. "IT'S MY SON'S BIG MOMENT! JUST KNOCK THEM OUT ALREADY, IT'S YOUR FINAL FUCKING PERFORMANCE, STOP SANDBAGGING IT LIKE A LITTLE BITCH!"
"Sandbagging?" One of the Paragons chuckles. "What can a quirkless guy do, either way?"
"Oh, right." Knuckleduster says with a tone of a voice of a man that just realized something crucial. "HPSC is going down today either way, so it's not like I'm going to have to keep hiding that from the world."
"Hiding w…" The nearest Paragon is interrupted by a blow to the face, too fast to react to. Within a second or two three more are struck down similarly, Knuckleduster standing victorious over their unconscious body.
"My quirk." Knuckleduster grins widely. "Say hello to Overclock, assholes."
"Oh my God, that's O'Clock!" One of the Paragons in front of him shouts in sudden horror. Huh, someone remembers him from before he hid behind a fake persona of a quirkless vigilante with a mysterious past? Cool. He'll hit that guy in the face slightly less strongly.
Slightly.
"Now that's what I call a good plottwist!" Mr. Compress shouts while dodging an attack in melee. One of the Paragons shoots some projectile at him, so he promptly marbles it, turns the marble around and unmarbles the projectile.
The Paragon, sadly, dodges it. Well, nobody's perfect. Aside from, perhaps, Inko.
"Doting fatherhood and big plotwists aside…" Mischief jumps back a bit. "... you have a precognition quirk, don't you?"
The Paragon in front of her nods, his eyes still on her. He ignores the fight around him - if there'll be an attack incoming, he'll know. That's such a cool quirk, Inko decides. Izuku would love to dissect it.
In the meantime, Inko will do.
"Probably a few seconds long." She says. "Now, a fun fact. I can do some very scary things with my quirk. I'm going to do them to you in a few seconds if you do not surr…"
"I surrender." The Paragon says quickly, raising his hands up in the air. Huh, must be around ten seconds then.
"Good boy." Inko nods. "Now on your knees and stay there. If you move before the end of this fight, your small body parts privilege is going to be revoked." Paragon quickly obeys the orders.
"Foresight, what the fuck?!" One of the remaining Paragons clearly didn't get a memo. Foresight decides not to elaborate. The HPSC isn't paying him enough to endure what he saw in his prediction.
(***)
"I had a very… enlightening talk." Hawks continues his confession. "I was approached during a patrol by Knuckleduster, the mysterious head of the Vigilante Alliance. Although the world also knows him as O'Clock, former Number Nine Hero."
That's… honestly, the host would freak out over that revelation alone. Especially as O'Clock broke into the Top 10 mostly due to being the person that cornered Lady Nagant.
They don't see the battle going on downstairs, so he doesn't know that Japan already discovered that. But the reveal was planned ahead, and Knuckleduster knew about it. It was the final arc of the Vigilante Alliance' history. No need to hide anything.
"And… you didn't try to arrest him?" The host asks instead.
"I considered it, but he wasn't alone." Hawks replies. "Seeing Knuckleduster confronting me side by side with All Might of all people gave me a pause, not gonna lie." There is something of a bitter chuckle at the end.
"All…" Miyagi swallows the surprise. It was unthinkable until Kamino, but the 'new' All Might after retirement was… different. He knew of at least one conspiracy theory suggesting that he was brain damaged by one of the attacks of Revenant and that's why he acted so weird.
"They were accompanied by two more people." Hawks continues. "One was the Hero Killer. The other… well, let me put it that way. Meeting Lady Nagant was the last thing I expected to happen that day when I was leaving my bed in the morning."
"L-Lady Nagant?!" The host's eyes grow wide. "She's alive?!"
"Apparently, unless I met a very convincing ghost." Hawks replies with a brief flash of humor. "O'Clock cornered her, but they were acquaintances beforehand. He wanted to know why she did all of that, and when she told him, he believed her. So he helped her fake her death. Soon after that he created Knuckleduster as an alter ego and used him to establish the Vigilante Alliance in order to drag the HPSC's crimes into the light. When having two identities grew too cumbersome, he got rid of O'Clock and dedicated himself full-time to leading the VA." He sighs painfully. "Conversation with her about my… part-time job proved rather enlightening."
"How so?" The host isn't sure if he wants to know, but… the world probably does.
"They told her… like they told me… that we were making the world a better place." Hawks replies. "That we were eliminating villains in our midst. Threats to the hero society, threats to Japan. What contributed to Lady Nagant's defection was the fact that she realized that 'threats to the hero society' and 'threats to Japan' were just two cool ways of referring to 'threats to the HPSC'. It was… as stated, rather enlightening. But it was Stain and All Might that truly made me decide to come here."
Stain and All Might doing something together… wow. Daikaku Miyagi can scarcely imagine that happening.
"Stain explained to me that the real reason why he was targeted wasn't because he ruined good heroes with some false evidence." Hawks continues. "But because he was actually targeting the corrupted heroes. Most of which were working for the HPSC. Because, apparently, the Paragon Program isn't the only big skeleton in the HPSC' closet."
Oh gods, what else?
"The system was simple." Hawks shrugs. "A hero does something bad, HPSC offers to clean up after him. In exchange, your ass was theirs. I know that this is how they got Scream onboard. His quirk is hard to control, he killed a civilian accidentally, HPSC cleaned up after him and pinned the death onto a nearby villain. Ever since then, Scream has to listen to its orders. They were also fudging the Billboard Chart results in the favor of their lackey, although only to a small degree to avoid people growing suspicious."
"That's…" The host tries to cut in, but honestly, it was going to be some random expression of shock. He has no idea what to actually say for something like that.
"Thunderbolt was another example, one way more drastic." Hawks continues, ignoring the attempted interjection entirely. "Although All Might apparently already dealt with it, to the best of his abilities."
"All Might did what?" The host isn't sure if he wants to know, but… the public probably should.
(***)
They've managed to block the stars before the Paragon even arrived in the building. And getting through the blockades was hard enough with several determined combatants behind your back.
Everything was going according to the plan, even if you excluded Split running out of quirk juice and Crawler being barely able to fight. Worst of all, the HPSC reinforcements seemed to have arrived, and while they were lacking the big ones, there was enough regulars among them to start overwhelming the vigilantes that formed the bulk of the defenders.
Spinner arrived. He was the only reinforcement that they could hope for now. At least the fight was almost over.
That's when the elevator behind them opened up.
"What the…" Stain shouts, before being interrupted by another Paragon jumping at him. He is badly beaten up, but he is also the person that kept standing after All Might's Detroit Smash - he is far from done.
"Now!" One of the Paragons shouts. It must have been his work. Some remote grab/touch quirk? Enough to summon the elevator? The doors were open, and that opened up options. Unfortunately, mostly for the attackers.
Yoroi Muusha rushed forward, flanked by some Paragon, one built almost like All Might. Some strength-enhancing quirk, Mischief recalls someone referring to him as Valiant, what an irony considering that's also her son's hero name.
All of that is cool to know. What's not cool is not knowing how to stop them, especially once Valiant tanked Knuckleduster's overclocked punches and punched the man down the corridor. Split is down, and Crawler barely counts as combat 's not going well at all…
"HOMERUN!" Mr. Compress (who was right next to her) shouts suddenly, before marbling himself.
She understands what he meant immediately. He - once he became a part of the UA faculty - showed her the recording of the battle trial. The one where Izuku and Uraraka fought against Yoarashi and Iida. It was mostly because he thought that Uraraka was super cool in it, but…
She swings her staff like a baseball bat. And somehow, just somehow, nails it. Mr. Compress demarbles himself mid-flight, the velocity of the marble still there.
"W…" Yoroi Muusha was a veteran hero. He saw the attack incoming from the corner of his eye. But he failed to react in time, his old body failing him. Mr. Compress marbled him before marbling himself again.
One marble bounced off the wall and decompressed, leaving noticeably dazed Mr. Compress on the floor. The other marble fell to the ground.
With Yoroi Muusha out, Valiant's charge stopped being a problem. The Paragon discovered that when he ran into the elevator, only to meet an invisible wall that stopped him in his tracks. And a second before he could bounce back, someone previously marbled touched him in the leg.
Valiant vanished. Gentle Criminal stepped out of the elevator, a cup of tea in his hand. Behind him, Ms. Compress, Atsuhiro Sako's twin sister, assistant and co-worker, both of them having just demarbled themselves.
"I hope we aren't late for the party!" Gentle Criminal says loudly, with a smirk on his face.
(Twice copies of them were waiting, marbled, in every elevator - just in case. One of the cases just happened, and it worked out perfectly.)
Inko is still going to commit murder if his posturing (however impressive and well-earned) was going to lead to some tea being wasted.
(***)
"Do you remember the Nightshade and Red Wing… situation?" Hawks asks. Miyagi nods. It was rather famous, although a short-lived affair. Two heroes jailed for overstepping their boundaries and causing unneeded bodily harm to suspects. Minors, at that, although details of that were kept hid…
Oh no.
"Yes, HPSC cover-up at its finest." Hawks must have read the unspoken words from his face. "It wasn't their first rodeo. And according to All Might, even the charges in question were falsified as a part of the cover-up. Nightshade came upon a girl with a quote unquote 'villainous quirk' that ran away from an abusive household and proceeded to beat her to near death for no other reason than his own enjoyment. When another child with quote unquote 'villainous quirk' helped her escape, he kept looking for them to finish the job."
"That's…"
"And he did corner them." Hawks continues. His face is almost emotionless right now. "Together with Red Wing… and, imagine that, Thunderbolt."
"T-Thunderbolt." Miyagi blinks. "The former Number Three Hero." Hawks nods. "Tried to… lynch some kids for having a wrong type of quirk?" Hawks nods once again.
"This time it didn't work, mostly due to a rather unique coincidence." Hawks adds. "I say 'this time', because it probably wasn't the first time. HPSC was… generous with its cover-ups. As for the coincidence: it all happened in Takoba Municipal Beach Park. It was, at that time, an illegal junkyard."
"I think I heard of it." The host suddenly remembers something. "It was cleaned up by someone, close to a year ago." It was just a random beach out there, but the fact that nobody came forward to admit that it was them made it a bit of a nationwide mystery. Even if the interest passed quickly.
"That's what saved those kids." Hawks replies. "It was cleaned up by a teenager preparing for the UA Heroics Course entrance exam. He got curious and followed a group of heroes that he saw passing by and came upon two kids being beaten to death so he intervened. What made his intervention work instead of him joining the list of casualties was the fact that the teenager in question was All Might's son."
"A…" Miyagi blinks at him in a shock. "All Might has a son?"
"Apparently he has a wife and several children, but they prefer anonymity to avoid villains going after them." Hawks replies. Miyagi can understand that. "In this case, he managed to prove his identity to the quote unquote heroes in front of him, so they realized that they bit over more than they could chew."
(a lie, but that's what All Might told Hawks - certain things are to be left hidden).
"All Might managed to jail Nightshade and Red Wing, despite HPSC managing to lower the punishment by manipulating the charges." Hawks continues, his voice once again monotonous. "Thunderbolt was too strong to get him that way, so All Might threatened him into early retirement. Apparently some version of 'if I see you in a hero uniform again I'm going to follow you around until you're alone and then do to you what you tried to do to those children'. While being convincing enough for Thunderbolt to retire immediately, without telling the reason for it to the HPSC."
Few weeks ago the host wouldn't believe that All Might could say words like that. Today? Today he could believe it. And, to be honest, he couldn't find it in himself to condemn it. What else could All Might do if the HPSC was backing Thunderbolt to this degree? Write him a nasty letter telling him to stop doing things like that?
How many people had Thunderbolt killed or let die beforehand? Simply because the son of All Might wasn't there to step in?
"The victims were apparently adopted by some underground heroes and are attending an undisclosed hero school." Hawks continues. "Mostly because All Might and his son managed to show them that true heroes actually exist. I think… that's what broke me finally."
"Why?" The host asks.
"First of all… what if the person that intervened wasn't a hero hopeful but a villain?" Hawks ask. He doesn't wait for an answer before continuing. "Second of all, a fun fact. Thunderbolt has been kidnapped from his retirement house, most likely by the PLF. His daughter vanished as well, but… I heard stories. Gossip within the HPSC. Gossip that I didn't believe before my talk with All Might. Gossip that he was abusing his daughter."
The host would like to say that it wasn't possible. But after what he just heard…
"And, apparently, someone let the kidnappers in." Hawks continues. "So if in a few months we'll run into a girl with a superspeed quirk among the Paranormal Liberation Front's members, we'll know what happened to Thunderbolt. And honestly? I won't be able to blame her for doing what she did."
He takes a deep breath, before slumping down, his eyes drifting to his feet.
"They told me that we were eliminating villains." Hawks says. His voice, bitter. "But we were creating them. They told me that we were protecting people like Endeavor. But we were protecting people like my father. That's what made me come here."
(***)
"Push forward!" One of the Paragons shouts. Most of the heavy hitters on both sides are either knocked out or on their last legs. But the reinforcements that just arrived should be enough to take the defenders down. They just need one final push and…
That's when the loud sound of a whistle comes in from behind.
The remaining Paragons turn their heads to see the new arrivals. On most of their faces, relief. Heroes have come.
Endeavor. Best Jeanist. Edgeshot. Crust. Miruko. Gang Orca. Ryukyu. And, finally, two people not from the Top Ten Heroes. The first one is Sir Nighteye. With a small stack of papers in one hand, the other one hiding the whistle in a pocket. Next to him was a police officer with a cat head.
(Tsukauchi prefered to not stick out too much, so he noped out of the plan when it was presented to him).
"This fight is over." Sir Nighteye announces. Endeavor and the police officer walk forward, passing by the Paragons. "Both sides are to stand down immediately." The moment of relief for the people working for the HPSC is over.
"What?!" A nearby Paragon shouts. "Both sides?! Those are villains, you can't be ser…"
Endeavor and the police officer reach the line of defenders, walking past Crawler. Both sides ignore each other, the Number One Hero and his companion calmly continuing their march toward the elevator.
"Twelfth floor." Gentle Criminal says loudly when they get close, stepping aside. Endeavor acknowledges that with a nod and walks inside together with Sansa.
"This was just faxed to me from the Prime Minister's office." Sir Nighteye says loudly. The room is mostly quiet right now (angry glares are, after all, mostly quiet), but the microphones relaying the words to the world have to pick them up properly.
Then he hands the documents to the nearest Paragon, the one that shouted earlier. He starts reading through it quickly, his eyes steadily growing wider and wider. In the background, the elevator doors close behind Endeavor and Sansa.
"For the rest of you, I'll summarize it." Sir Nighteye continues speaking. "Hero Public Safety Commission was just designated a villain organization. Its president is now a triple S-Rank villain. Her deputy, Yokumiru Mera, is now a double S-Rank villain. The remaining commissioners are now S-Rank villains. All orders from them are officially annulled by the authority of the Prime Minister and the ruling government of Japan. All members and workers of the HPSC are to immediately return to their homes and consider themselves under temporary house arrest until the investigation will be concluded and they'll be cleared of suspicion of participating in a conspiracy to overthrow the government. Failure to abide by these orders will be considered an admission of guilt and an act of treason. Effective…" He adds while correcting his glasses. "...immediately."
(***)
Look folks. When AFO stole Knuckleduster's quirk, he was already missing a face. And while the early Vigilantes chronology is a mess, I decided to go along with that. So, surprise. He still has his quirk, but has pretended otherwise for years. Talk about a long-con. Also Yoroi Muusha's quirk is pretty much a hammerspace arsenal in that he can 'equip' and 'unequip' objects that appear or vanish at his will. Hence his "Equipped Hero" title.
Don't you think that the Top Heroes (and Sir Nighteye) appeared impossibly quickly? And that Sir Nighteye got his little document surprisingly quickly? This chapter (especially Hawks explaining his motivation to come forward) answers the question 'why'. The next chapter will explain 'how' (it was all planned beforehand, let me tell you that much), while also finishing the events in the TV Station properly.
I'm genuinely looking forward to the end of the End of an Era arc because reading Hawks' lines regularly makes me cry for some reason. Poor guy. Writing it was even worse, tbh.